Jacques Aubert (30 September 1689 – 19 May 1753), also known as Jacques Aubert le Vieux (Jacques Aubert the Elder), was a French composer and

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist of the

Baroque period The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

. From 1727 to 1746, he was a member of the Vingt-quatre Violons du Roy; from 1728 to 1752, he was the first violinist with the Paris Opera orchestra; and from 1729 to 1740, he frequently and successfully appeared as a soloist with the

Concert Spirituel The Concert Spirituel ( en, Spiritual Concert) was one of the first public concert series in existence. The concerts began in Paris in 1725 and ended in 1790. Later, concerts or series of concerts of the same name occurred in Paris, Vienna, Londo ...

, performing, among other works, concertos for violin and orchestra of his own composition."Aubert family"
Grove Music online.

Biography

Aubert was born in Paris and was probably the son of Jean Aubert, a member of the 24 Violins du Roi until his death in 1710. Jacques was a student of

Jean Baptiste Senaillé Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * J ...

. In 1717 he is known to have been working in the Théâtres de la Foire, as a violinist and dancing-master, and had composed at least five ballets and comedies. In 1719 he married Marie Louise Lecat, published a book of violin sonatas and began working for Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon and Prince of Condé. In 1727, Aubert replaced Noel Converset, a well-respected violinist in the Violons du Roi, and remained a member until 1746. Within a year he joined orchestra of the Paris Opera, at the time known as the Académie Royale de Musique, becoming first violinist and remaining there for the next 24 years. He made his debut with the

in 1729. His son, Louis Aubert (painter) (1720-c.1800), was also a violinist and composer. Another son,

Jean-Louis Aubert Jean-Louis Aubert (, born 12 April 1955) is a French singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer and producer. He went on a solo career after the split of the rock band Téléphone that he co-founded. Early life Born in Nantua, Ain, France in 195 ...

(1731–1814) was a dramatist, poet and journalist, also known as the Abbé Aubert. Aubert's oldest son, Louis, was greatly influenced by the Italian style of music. As a back-desk violinist, he played a major role in showing how much impact his father had on format and techniques in music. With such drive in styles within Italian methodology, he participated in many concerto and sonata premiers. Aubert also highlighted many French elements in his music. Using forms such as the gavotte and minuet, he wrote out the slow middle movements in full and published them as solo pieces. Together with

Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville Jean-Joseph de Mondonville (, 25 December 1711 (baptised) – 8 October 1772), also known as Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville, was a French violinist and composer. He was a younger contemporary of Jean-Philippe Rameau and enjoyed great suc ...

and

Jean-Marie Leclair Jean-Marie Leclair l'aîné (Jean-Marie Leclair the Elder) (10 May 1697 – 22 October 1764) was a French Baroque violinist and composer. He is considered to have founded the French violin school. His brothers, the lesser-known Jean-Marie L ...

, Aubert brought the zest of Italian violin virtuosity into the French musical fare of their time. He died in Belleville, near Paris.

Works

Instrumental notation

*Pieces for two violins

Trio sonata The trio sonata is a genre, typically consisting of several movements, with two melody instruments and basso continuo. Originating in the early 17th century, the trio sonata was a favorite chamber ensemble combination in the Baroque era. Basic s ...

s *Five books of

sonata Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cant ...

s for violin and

basso continuo Basso continuo parts, almost universal in the Baroque era (1600–1750), provided the harmonic structure of the music by supplying a bassline and a chord progression. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing th ...

*Twelve Suites of ''concerts de Symphonie'' (1730) *Concertos for 4 violins and bass, (the first in this genre by a French composer) *''Les Amuzettes, pièces pour les vièles, musettes, violons, flutes et hautbois.'' Op. XIV, Paris ca. 1734 *''Les petits concerts. Duos pour les musettes, vielles, violons, flutes et hautbois.'' Op. XVI, Paris ca. 1734 *op.1 (1719) op. 2 (1721) *op. 3 (1723) *op.4 (1731) *V livre de sonates, vn,bc, op. 25 (1738) *Pieces, 2 fl/vn, premiere suite (1723) *Some for fl

Operas, ballets, and creative works

Scene from Armide by Lully - drawing by Saint-Aubin - Boston MFA

*''Arlequin gentilhomme malgré lui ou L'Amant supposé,''

opéra comique ''Opéra comique'' (; plural: ''opéras comiques'') is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged from the popular '' opéras comiques en vaudevilles'' of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent (and to a l ...

(1716 Paris) *''Arlequin Hulla ou La Femme répudiée,'' opéra comique (1716 Paris) *''Les Animaux raisonnables'' (

Louis Fuzelier Louis Fuzelier (also ''Fuselier'', ''Fusellier'', ''Fusillier'', ''Fuzellier''; 1672 or 1674

Marc-Antoine Legrand Marc-Antoine Legrand or Le Grand (30 January 1673, Paris – 7 January 1728) was a 17th–18th-century French actor and playwright. Biography The son of a surgeon at the Hôtel des Invalides, Legrand started very early his acting career, first ...

), opéra comique (1718 Paris) *''Diane'' (Antoine Danchet),

divertissement ''Divertissement'' (from the French 'diversion' or 'amusement') is used, in a similar sense to the Italian 'divertimento', for a light piece of music for a small group of players, however the French term has additional meanings. During the 17th and ...

(1721 Chantilly) *''Le Regiment de la calotte'' (Fuzelier/LeSage/d'Orneval), opéra comique (1721 Paris) *''La Fête royale divertissement'' (1722 Chantilly) *''Le Ballett de Chantilly, Le Ballet des vingt-quatre heures'' (LeGrand), comedy (1722 Chantilly) *''La Reine des Péris'' (Fuzelier), Persian comedy (1725 Paris) *Les amuzettes, vielles/musettes/vns/fls/obs, op.14 (c1733) *Les petits concerts, musettes/vielles/vns/fls/obs, op.16(1734) *ed. J. Harf( Wilhelmshaven,1975) * Concerto, 4 vn, vc, bc, op.17 (1734) *6

symphonies A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

a quarte, 3 vn, bs, op. 2 (1755) *2 ed. R. Blanchard (Paris, 1973)

References

External links

* *Jacque
Aubert
entry in the Oxford Music Online Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Aubert, Jacques 1689 births 1753 deaths Musicians from Paris 18th-century classical composers 18th-century French male classical violinists French Baroque composers French male classical composers French opera composers Male opera composers French ballet composers 18th-century French composers 17th-century male musicians